Supporting device for bottles and other receptacles on filling, stoppering, capsuling, and the like machines



R. DETREz Dec 26 SUPP-DRTING DEVICE FOR BOTTLES AND OTHER RECEPTACLES ON FILLING, STOPPERING, cAPsuLING AND Tm: LIKE MACHINES Filed Feb, 12, 1945 Patented Dec. 26, 1950 SUPPORTING 'DEVICE FOR BOTTLES AND OTHER RECEPTACLES ONFILLING, STOP- PERING, CAPSULING, AND THE LIKE MA- CHINES Ren Dtrez, Nogent, France Application February 12, 1945, Serial No. 577,546 In Switzerland January 22,1944

Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires January 22, 1964 6 Claims. l

This invention relates to .the devices used for supporting bottles and other receptacles during the operations to whichthey are submitted by lling, stoppering, capsuling machines andthe like.

It' is known that the machines employed for filling, Stoppering, capsuling bottles and other vessels or receptacles comprise one type in which the bottles are imparted an ascending motion relatively tothe working members (illing spouts. stoppering heads, capsuling heads. and another type in which said working members are given a lowering motion relatively to the bottles.

The machines of the first class are generally preferred and the usual arrangement consistsv in transmitting the reciprocating vertical motion tothe bottles by means oi supporting platforms each of which is provided witha vertical slide arranged directly thereunder.

The plateof the machine in that case is necessarily. traversed by these slidesl and while it is not impossible to avoid ,liquid infltrations between said slides and the machine plate apertures in .which they slide, this nevertheless requires that great precautions be taken and leads to an expensive construction.

The present invention aims precisely at permitting theuse ofmaehines in which the receptacles have a reciprocating vertical motion, with the advantages deriving therefrom, while avoiding the use of bottle supports provided with slides placed directly under the bottles. This is specially' advantageous in the case of filling machines and more particularly in the case of machines for llingfmilk bottles.

In-,thelatter machines, as well as in all other machines in lwhich it is desired that the liouid spilled from bottles which have been brought to said machines in a cracked or pierced state be recovered in a pure state` it is further necessary that the oil used for lubricating the machine parts (more particularly those parts that belong to the devices used for vertically reciprocating the bottles) be not allowed to become mixed with the recovered liquid in the trough provided therefor,

The present invention has for its object, the

.provision of a device for supporting bottles or other vessels on machines for lling, stoppering, capsuling said bottles and the like, which is characterized in that the bottle supporting platform-like part of said device is suspended from a vertically reciprocating member having the shape of an inverted U, one branch of which constitutes the guiding slide of said member and is arranged laterally and on the outside of the held in 'which the circulation or translation movements of the bottles are effected.

In accordancel with the invention, said -bottle supporting device is further characterized in that the aforesaid slide is separated from the bottle support proper by a substantially verticalpar- 'tition arranged in such wise that said partition prevents liquid escaping from defective bottles from gaining access to moving parts of themachine and also prevents the lubricating medium from mixing with said liquid.

Preferably the slide-forming portion of the invertedv 'U-member moves inside of the substantially vertical partition and `the other brancher" said U-member, connected withthc bottle supporting platform. penetrates upwards into the space provided inside oisaid' partition, passing through a shoulder-like portion of said partition.

Embodiments of the invention; hereinafter described purely as examples which are in nowise limitative, are diagrammatically shown on the accompanying drawingsin which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, partly in ver. tical section, of a iirst embodiment.

Fig. v2 is a .similar view of a second embodi-v ment.

In both figures, which represent a portion of rotary bottle lling machine, l indicates a bottle carried by a supporting platform 2 from which extends upwardly. a vertical part 3 .connected tothe slide 4 of the vertically reciprocatingdevice and constituting therewith an inverted U. member.

The vertical partition or wall .5, provided with a shoulder portion 5, separates the slide .4 from the bottle supporting platform-2 and from the bottlel itself.

Said slide d. slides at its upper part in .a bearing l and at its lower part in a sleeve 8. A vertical reciprocating motion is imparted` thereto by a cam or rise 9 along which a roller Il] carried by a pin Il integrally connected with slide 4 is adapted to move, said pin sliding in a guiding groove l2 provided in the sleeve 8.

Since the invention is shown applied, in the chosen examples, to rotary lling machines, the roller Iii is the moving element and the cam 9, in which said roller moves, is stationary. The invention is, however, equally applicable to nonrotary machines and in this case, the cam 9 is shifted relatively to the roller l in order to impart a vertical reciprocating motion to the slide 4.

This vertical reciprocating motion can obviously also be obtained by the use of any other suitable combination, whether mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic or otherwise.

Both figures show thus clearly: on the one hand that, in the present arrangement, the bottle supporting platform is suspended, i. e. not sustained; on the other hand that, owing to this arrangement, it is possible to do away with every membersliding or otherwise-underneath the bottles and in the field in which the circulation cr translation movements of the bottles are efiected.

It will thus be found that if, from any cause whatever, a bottle is brought to the machine in a cracked or damaged state or becomes damaged in the machine or, again, if the contents of a bottle overow, the liquid flowing from said bottle will run, by gravity, onto the liquid deiiecting part I3 and, from said part, into the collecting trough i4 (generally independent of the moving part of the machine), so that it will be prevented from gaining access to the operating device for the bottle support, which device, instead of being arranged underneath the bottles, as in the usual arrangements, is now situated laterally and shielded by the partition and part I3 that protects it completely.

It will be observed that such a result arises from the fact that the vertical part 3 extending upwardly from the suspended bottle-support 2 forms, together with the vertical slide li with which said part is connected, an inverted U- member and that between the branches of said member the partition 5 is arranged in such wise that a portion of said partition separates the bottle as well as any liquid flowing therefrom from the slide and other elements of the vertical reciprocating device, as well as from the openings in which these elements slide.

Hence, said openings and elements of the vertical reciprocating device cannot be reached by the liquid iiowing from cracked or pierced bottles.

It rwill also be observed that, owing to the location of the partition 5 the lubricant needed by the slide A or other elements of the vertical reciprocating device is prevented from mixing with the liquid that flows from defective bottles onto the deflecting part I3 of the machine plate to be recovered in the collecting trough I4.

It will further be observed that the arrangement of Fig. 2 provides additional safety in the case, for example, of any liquid being projected from the lling spouts of a iilling machine. This arises from the fact that the slide 4 moves entirely on the inside of the partition 5 and that the vertical part 3 that extends upwardly from the bottle supporting platform 2 and is connected with the slide i projects upwardly into said partition,

With this latter arrangement the opening provided as a passage for the vertical reciprocating device is situated underneath a horizontal plane in which extends a shoulder forming part G oi said partition, in such a position that said opening cannot be reached by any liquid dropping from the bottles.

As already mentioned, the invention applies to all machines used for bottle lling, stoppering, capsuling and the like, Whether these machines be rotary or not, automatic or not, and whether they comprise only one or several stations. Obviously, all modiiications or substitutions of equivalent means that may be restorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention can be adopted.

I claim:

1. In a machine or the character described, an inverted U-shaped reciprocating member having opposed branches, a bottle sup-porting platform carried by one of said branches, and a bearing guide slidably engaged by the other branch and displaced laterally from the platform and the bottle supported thereon.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 provided with a wall disposed between said branches.

3. A machine as claimed in claim l provided with a wall disposed between said branches, said bearing guide being located on one side of said wall and the platform being located on the opposite side thereof.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 1 provided` REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,082,534 Bondurant June 1, 1937 2,389,672 Lippold Nov. 27, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 798,494 France May 18, 1936 

